Is this the end?
by miscellaneouselements
Summary: Alfred takes his brother out drinking because he's all depressed, but when Matthew doesn't remember the night Gilbert has to try and make him want him again. human names used. sorry for bad summary, it's better inside. PruCan
1. Chapter 1

auther's note: this is my first fanfiction. i'm really sorry ahead of time if it's bad or if any characters are OOC. please review...if you want

* * *

><p>"You bastard! How could you hurt my brother like that?" I hear Lovino running down the hall. I don't pay attention to him and put my books in my rucksack, not interested in whoever had hurt Feliciano.<p>

I was just about to leave when Lovino grabbed me and picked me up.

"Why would hurt my brother?" he yelled at me.

"What? I would never hurt him." It then sinks in that he thinks I'm Alfred. I quickly shake my head. "I'm Matthew, not Alfred!"

He doesn't hear me. He hits me and rams me against the locker. He continues to beat me up until Alfred walks past on his way to football practice.

Lovino put me down and went after Alfred calling, "Get back here bastard!"

I got up and limped to my bus. I stare out the window as I often do, hoping the bus driver actually stops at my stop.

The next few days go past in similar ways.

At the end of the week as Alfred drives to school with me in the passenger's side I look out the window and start thinking.

'No one would ever notice if I'm gone. And maybe people would go after Alfred and not settle for me. No one would care if I'm gone anyway.' I thought it over while we drove, and then I decided.

After years of neglect, people won't need to remember me anymore.

When we got to school, I got out of Alfred's Ford truck and walked down the hall. I went to my locker, put my stuff away, and went to the gym.

Nobody notices me, so I go to where they keep the equipment for the archery unit. I grab an arrow and look around the room to make sure no one's there but me. The room is empty.

As I go to stab myself, someone grabs the arrow away from me. It's dark in the room, so I can't tell who stopped me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asks me. He sounds familiar.

"I wasn't doing anything." It was a weak lie, but I had never been good at lying.

"No one tries to kill themselves in front of the awesome me." Oh, he was that one guy in history class. I think his name is Gilbert?

He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the gym. Now that I could see him, I recognize him as the albino in the back of the room. I often see him with Antonio and Francis.

He brought me outside underneath a tree. He sat me down and sat across from me.

"Why were you trying to kill yourself?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment before answering, "No one notices me, but when they do, they normally are mistaking me for my brother."

He looks at me for a minute before saying, "Aren't you in my math class?"

I look at him for a minute. Maybe he thinks history was math class. "I'm in your history class." I say in my quiet voice.

He looks at me confused for a minute, then says, "Oh, I thought you were Alfred."

I stare at him, mouth agape for a minute. Why does everyone do that? I feel myself start to cry, and I turn away so he won't see.

"Hey, what's the matter?" He turns me around so I'm facing him. I try to stop crying, but I can't.

"What's wrong?" He asks, softer this time.

"I-I a-always have to be in m-my brother's sh-shadow." I bury my face in my hands. I feel him rub my back.

"If you don't want to be in his shadow, go make yourself known! Play a sport, join a club, do something!"

I sniff and say, "I-I do play a sport. I play i-ice-hockey."

He brings his hand back with a soft "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'." I stand up and get to my first class, wiping tears from my eyes.

I didn't really pay attention in any of my classes. I don't pay attention to anything. Well, until lunch anyway.

I was sitting in a corner without a lunch. I wasn't hungry. I was thinking of another way to take my life when I heard Alfred.

"HEY BRO! IS GILBERT TELLIN' ME THE TRUTH DUDE?"

Everyone looked over at Alfred, running over to me, bringing everyone's gaze with him.

He stood across from me with his hands on the table. "WELL IS IT?"

"Alfred, could you lower your voice? Everyone's staring." I felt my face grow a bit warmer, not used to being the center of attention.

Alfred sits down across from me and waits until everyone looks away before continuing.

"Did you really try to kill yourself because you live in my shadow?" He looked concerned. I tried not to answer, but I couldn't stop myself, and I slowly nod.

"No one notices me."

"Why didn't you tell me you were feeling ignored? I woulda totally helped you."

"I tried to tell you Al, but you were always playing video games with Tony, or you didn't even notice me."

"Dude, I-I'm sorry. I really am. I'll pay more attention to you Mattie, I swear!"

I shake my head. "It doesn't matter anymore Al. Don't worry about it."

Alfred got up and sat down next to me. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, nearly knocking me over.

"Don't worry Mattie, I'll get you noticed, OK? It's my duty as a hero to help my brother."

"Not helping…now." I gasp out. He lets go of me after he realizes he was crushing me. I take a few shaky breaths.

"Sorry dude, I'm gonna get some lunch, I'll be right back." He got up and left, no doubt getting hamburgers (I have no clue how he always gets some) and soda.

I put my head down on the table. I start to doze off.

I'm awoken from my small nap a few minutes later when Alfred comes back with some food he throws down on the table.

"Here, I got ya some food."

I lift my head up to see Alfred sitting across from me with a huge grin on his face and, of course, he had a burger in his hand. He had also bought me lunch, which was on a tray in front of me.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry." I mutter.

"What's that dude? Ya gotta speak up." He said through a mouthful of burger.

I sigh and tell him, "I'm not hungry" again.

"What? But you hardly had breakfast, ya gotta be hungry!"

I just shake my head. My mind has already been made up; Alfred can't help me now.

At the end of the day, Alfred hovers by me as I get my stuff from my locker. When I have everything together, Alfred grabs my arm and tugs me over to some of his friends. He introduces me to everyone, but I don't pay much attention. Until he mentions Gilbert.

Gilbert somehow recognizes me and says, "By the way Matthew, you're welcome." I only glared at him a bit, but he only laughed a little.

After a few minutes of standing there while Alfred talked with his friends, he dragged me back to his Ford. He got me into the passenger's side and he drives us back to the house.

Only we weren't going back home.

I glanced over at him, confused, when he turned down a different street. He didn't slow down, or seemed to even notice it was a different street.

We stopped after a few minutes in front an empty field. The road was clear, and there was no one around. Al turned the music down and looked over at me.

"Dude, why'd ya do it? Why'd ya try to… kill yourself?" I didn't know Al could be quiet, but apparently, he could.

"…I'm invisible, so it's not like it would matter anyway." I looked out the windshield so I can avoid looking at him.

"Bro, just do something to get yourself noticed."

"I've tried Alfred, but I was still ignored. I only get noticed when people think I'm you, but it's always because you pissed them off."

Alfred thought for a moment before saying, "You would think they would know the difference between us. Don't you tell them you're not me?"

"Yes! But they always ignore me. So I'm just giving up. Please, don't stop me."

"Dude, I'm the _hero_. I can't let you give up." He leaned over and hugged me (thankfully it wasn't a death hug this time) and told me, "Don't worry Mattie, you're gonna be OK."

He let go of me after a minute. "There's _always_ another option Mattie, remember that. There is _always_ another option. Ya got that?" I nodded as he started the engine again. "Good." He smiles and tousles my hair a bit. I pat it back down as we drive home. And as we make our way there, I think about what Alfred had said: 'There is _always_ another option.'

We made it home a few minutes later. I got out of Al's Ford and went to my room without a word. I closed and locked my door and flopped back on my bed. I stare up at the ceiling until my pet polar bear appears over my head.

"Who are you?" he asks me, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"I'm Canada." I tell him with a weak grin.

"OK." He puts his head on my forehead, and I pat his head.

A few hours later after dinner, Alfred is banging on my door. "COME ON MATTIE, LET ME IN!" He waited a minute, then banged louder on my door. "COME ON!"

He opened my door after a minute with the key above my door (I should probably move it again). He came in and sat on my bed next to me. "You missed dinner." He informs me. I sigh.

"Yes, I know."

He grabs my shoulders and pulls me up so I'm sitting. I look down at the floor.

"Come on Mattie, ya gotta eat _something_."

I shrug. He grabs my hand and drags me downstairs to the kitchen. He sits me down, opens the refrigerator, pulls something out, puts in the microwave, and faces me.

"Dad didn't make that, did he?" I ask, cautiously.

Alfred chuckles a bit. "Naw, dad didn't make it. And I didn't either." Good, Papa made it. I nod my approval.

A minute later, the microwave beeps. Alfred takes the food out, which I now see is some French cuisine. He sets it in front of me and sits across from me.

"We're not leaving 'til you eat that." He says. I nod and eat in silence.

When I finish Alfred puts my plate in the sink, and then brings me up to his room. He sits me on his bed, hooks up his game system to his TV, got some video games, and held them out in front of me. "Choose one."

Great. Being practically forced to eat, and now he wants me to play video games with him. I point at one without looking at them.

"Great, I love this one!" He puts it into the system and hands me a controller.

Hours later, I get tired of dying so many times. I get up and tell him, "I'm going to bed, I'll see you tomorrow."

He grunts something about getting a high score, so I leave to my room.

I sit in front of the mirror in my room, thinking. Always another option, eh? I lean my head in my hand and tap my fingers on my desk.

While I thought, I vaguely remember something I had heard about. How some kids cut themselves and feel better afterwards. Maybe it'll work for me.

I take a pair of scissors from my drawer and open them. I pull up the left sleeve of my red hoodie and put the edge of the scissors to my upper forearm.

I press them down, but I pause, shaking before I break the skin.

Do I really want to do this? What if someone finds out? Would I get in trouble, or would no one notice and just ignore it? What if Alf-

My thoughts are interrupted when I feel a sharp pain in my arm and then I feel blood. I look down at my arm and see the cut there. I slowly cut myself again a little lower on my arm, and realize that it _does_ make me feel better. I make at least three more cuts before I stop.

I bandage the cuts so I won't bleed onto the bed or my shirt.

I crawl into bed with Kuma…Kumacharo (?) by my head.

/

A few weeks later, I found myself looking into the mirror after taking a shower. I had cut myself before showering, but I feel like I need to again. I've been cutting myself even more lately.

I grab the blade and cut my arms again. I let them bleed into the sink for a few minutes before cleaning and bandaging them . I rinse the blood out of the sink before I leave.

While going to my room, I bump into dad.

"Sorry." I mutter. I walk past him, but he grabs my wrist and stops me.

"Why are your arms covered in bandages?" he asks me. I forgot to wear long sleeves and instead was wearing a black Tee.

I sigh and tell him, "The neighbor's cat scratched me again."

"That cat really doesn't like you, does it?" He chuckles a bit and ruffles my hair. "Good night then." He walks away and I grumble a bit as I go back to my room.

I lay down and hold Kumamaro to me. He looks up at me, but doesn't say anything. I hold him close and start to fall asleep, but I hear someone knocking on my door.

"Go away." I say. I'm unheard, seeing as the door opens anyway and Papa comes in. he sits down on my bed.

"Are you OK Mathieu?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why are your arms all cut up?" He takes my arm and holds it out for us to see.

"Neighbor's cat." I mutter, trying to pull my arm away.

"His cat isn't mean, he wouldn't scratch you. And if he did, it would not be this much."

"Well, it doesn't matter." I say, still trying to my arm away.

"It does mater." He looks closely at my arm for a minute while I frantically try to pull it away. He looks up at me, confusion and worry on his face. "Have you been…cutting yourself?" he asks in extreme worry.

My eye start to water, and I very slowly nod.

"Mathieu, why?"

"I-isn't it better th-than killing myself?" I feel tears start to fall.

"Why would you kill yourself?" he sounds shocked.

"No one notices me. It's not like anyone would care if I was gone." I whisper.

"Non ce n'est pas. (No it's not). A lot of people would care." He pulls me into a hug, and I cry into his shoulder.

"I just feel so alone all the time." I say between sobs.

"We'll always be here for you mon cher." He holds me to him until I fall asleep a few minutes later.

\\\

The next morning I wake up with Kumajarna in my arms. I put him down, sit up, and rub my eyes. Everything's so fuzzy, but I realize someone had taken my glasses off.

I grab a sweatshirt and put it on before I put my glasses on and go downstairs. I sit down on the couch and wait for someone else to wake up.

Around a half hour later, Papa comes down. "Morning." I say as he comes down.

"Bonjour Mathieu." He sits down next to me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." I wait a minute before saying, "Thank you for talking with me last night. It helped."

"Good. Now, let's go get some breakfast before your father wakes up and poisons us with his."

"OK." I get up and follow him to the kitchen where I help him make crepes.

Dad comes down while we make them, but he just gets his coffee and has some scones. He does sit with us while we eat though. He keeps giving me worried glances that I try to ignore.

When we finish eating, I hear Alfred coming down the stairs. He comes into the kitchen and goes right to the refrigerator.

"Oh no you don't." Dad says. He gets up and pulls Al out of the refrigerator. "Get some _real_ food for breakfast."

"Mattie!" Alfred breaks free of dad's grip and comes over to me. "Remember when I said i would get you noticed? Well, I'm gonna fulfill that promise today!"

"How? It's Saturday." I get up, put my dish in the sink, and go into the living room. Alfred grabs me from behind and I let out a quiet yelp.

"I'm gonna take you out somewhere, OK?"

"Where?"

"It's a surprise. Now go get dressed." He pushes me towards the stairs. I go back up to my room to get changed. I have nothing better to do today but brood anyway.

I get on a pair of black jeans and red sneakers, leaving on the red sweatshirt I had put on earlier.

"Who are you?" Kumataro asks as I get dressed.

"I'm Canada."

"Are you going somewhere?" He comes over and sits on the edge of the bed next to me as I tie my shoes.

"I suppose I am."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"Alfred won't tell me." I stand up, but he stops me before I leave.

"Hey, be safe, OK?"

I smile a bit over at him and nod. "OK."

Once I get down the stairs, Alfred grabs my wrist and gets me into his Ford.

While he drives, I just look out the window, trying not to think about hurting myself.

When we reach a stop light, I feel Al's hand on my shoulder. I look over at him.

"Ya know you can talk to me right?" He takes his hand back. "About anything. You know that, right Mattie?"

I sigh. "Yeah, I know that Al."

"Really. _Anything_. I want you to know you can talk to me, and I'll listen, I really will!"

"Ok. I know."

I, of course, don't believe him thought. He never really has listened.

An hour later, I find out where 'somewhere' is.

"Why's you bring me here?" I ask kind of scared. I don't want to get out of his Ford, but Alfred drags me out anyway.

"Come on, it'll be fun." He tells me as he drags me to the club.

"No it won't be!" He ignores me of course.

He somehow gets us in and, despite all my protesting, gets me seated at the bar with a drink.

"How will this get me noticed again?"

"Well there are people here. Get drunk and go party dude!" he tells me with a drink in hand.

I shake my head. "No way I'm drinking this stuff."

"Come on man. It'll make you likeable."

I stare at him with my mouth partially open. It'll make me likeable? I'm not likeable already?

"Dude, that's not what I meant." I hardly hear him, too lost in my thoughts.

After a minute I snap out of it.

"Not likeable, eh?" I sigh "Well, fine." I'll just cut myself that much more when I get home.

I take the drink in front of me and force myself to drink it. I keep drinking, even beyond the point where I start to fell weird. I don't remember what happened after that, and then everything goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up in a hospital. My family's there, and they look concerned, but relived when they see me looking at them.

Papa comes closer to my side.

"Vous vous sentez bien Mathieu? (Are you OK Matthew?)" he asks.

"Y-yeah, I think so. What happened?" I softly ask.

"Dude, you were the life of the party! But, then you black out. I never seen someone drink so much the first time out!" Alfred seems overly excited about this, but I have a small headache.

"This isn't something to get excited about you git! Matthew could have _died_ and it was _your fault_." Dad says, while he hits the back of Alfred's head. He rubs the back of his head where he was hit and gave me an apologetic look.

"Mattie, I-I'm sorry. I thought that it would make ya feel better, and, ya know, not depressed." he mutters.

I look at him for a minute before saying, "It's alright Al." I know he really is sorry.

He looks at me, confused. "Why do you forgive so easily?"

"Because I know you really _are _sorry."

/

I get to go home around eight, and we got back close to ten. We eat dinner in near silence, not really talking much. After I finish, I go upstairs to the bathroom.

I lock the door and take the bandages off my arms that the doctor had put on me. I grab the blade behind the mirror and cut over the crisscrossed scars on my arms. I turned the water on so my blood won't stain the sink too bad.

I make a few deep gashes and let them bleed into the water until I start to feel light headed. I clean the wounds and re-bandage my arms.

I open the door and nearly run into Alfred.

"Hey dude. Oh, you changed your bandages. Good." He's holding my upper arms from when I ran into him

"Yeah." I try to get past him, but he won't let me.

"Did you cut yourself again?" he asks, concern in his voice.

"Huh?" How did he know? How did he even know I was cutting myself in the first place?

"You're bleeding through the bandages." He lifts my arm up to show me. I see blood seeping through the bandages.

"L-let go of me Al." I struggle to break free of his grip.

"Not until you tell me. Did you cut yourself again?" He tightens his grip so I can't escape. After a few minutes and I can't feel my hands anymore, I stop struggling and hang my head.

"Yeah, but what does it matter? I'm not _likeable_ anyhow."

I feel Alfred's grip loosen and I take that chance to break free and run to my room. I close the door and lock it, making sure I take the key with me.

"Mattie?" I hear Al come down the hall to my room. I just ignore him, getting him to bang on my door.

I get under my Canadian flag blanket and hold my pillow over my head to block out Al's knocking. It doesn't work.

"K-Kuma, Kuma-"

"Kumajirou." He says.

"Come here?" I whimper a bit as I ask. I fell movement on the bed, and then feel his fur. I grab him in a hug and hold him close to me. I eventually fall asleep, despite Alfred's banging on my door.

/

Monday morning I get dragged out of bed and forced to go to school.

I'm walking to my locker when I hear someone yell "BIRDIE!" and I get knocked to the floor. Someone has their arms around me in a tight hug.

"Please get off me." I manage to get out.

"Oh, sorry, Birdie." He gets off of me and helps me up. It's Gilbert.

"Who's Birdie?" I ask him.

He smiles and places his hand on my cheek.

"You're Birdie." he says, cheerfully.

"No, I'm Matthew." I step back, trying to get away from him, but he grabs me and holds me close to him.

"That's my nickname for you."

"Since when?" I try to get away, but he won't let me.

"Since Saturday silly."

"Saturday?"

"Yeah. You were awesome. Not as awesome as me, though, but still pretty awesome." He presses his forehead against mine, and softly says, "And that kiss was nice too."

I feel myself blushing a whole lot. "Wh-what are you talking about?" I whisper.

"You mean you don't remember?" He sighs. "Well, you were pretty drunk. Oh well, I'll make you like me again." He gently kisses my forehead before waving and walking off.

I'm too stunned to move until I hear the bell ring. I hurry up and get to homeroom.

Throughout the day, Gilbert stop and talks with me in the hall, and I feel him staring at me through history class, which makes it hard to focus on the lesson. I thought that would be it, but then he's in my lunch.

I was feeling depressed again, so I was sitting the corner again with my head in my arms. I was going to fall asleep, but I felt someone sit across from me. I look up and see that someone is Gilbert.

"Hey Birdie. You hungry?"

I sigh. "No, I'm not hungry." I tell him as I look around to see if there's another empty table. Unfortunately, there isn't.

"Birdie, are you OK?" He lifts up my head so I'm looking at him.

"Do I seem OK? Just leave me alone." I put my head back down on the table and try not to cry. No sobs escape, but I do silently cry a bit. I feel him pat my head before going back to his lunch.

That night goes by the same way. After dinner I do my homework, cut myself, shower, then read until I fall asleep.

Except this time, I can't fall asleep. I finish the entire book and I'm still wide awake. I try to just fall asleep, then counting backwards from 100 in both English and French, but nothing I do seems to work.

I end up staring at the ceiling until I eventually fall asleep.

The week goes by much the same way as Monday.


	3. Chapter 3

I try to sleep in Saturday, but I can't. I don't feel like getting up, or moving at all, so I just lay there and listen to the birds outside.

A few hours later, I hear a car door open and close outside. There's a knock on the door, the door opens, then I hear people talking. Someone comes running upstairs and Alfred slams my door open. I look over.

"Come on Mattie, get dresses, dude, and come downstairs! Come on!" He literally drags me out of bed, then throws some clothes at me. "Come on!" once again before he rushes back downstairs.

I grumble as I get dressed. I put my red sweatshirt with a white maple leaf on it on and walk downstairs.

"What Alfred?" I sleepily ask.

"You're gonna spend the day out of the house."

"What? I don't want that to happen again." I tell him as I lift my head up. I see Gilbert standing in the doorway. "What is he doing here?" I ask Al.

"He's gonna take you out for the day!" He pushes me out the door, and Gilbert gets me in his car. All before I can protest.

"I'm taking you somewhere special Birdie." Gilbert tells me as we pull out of the driveway.

"It better not be a club."

He laughs a bit, and it sounds a bit like a hissing. "Don't worry. It's nowhere with alcohol."

"Better not be." I mutter. A few minutes later I fall asleep. Probably because I couldn't get to sleep at all last night.

I wake up a few hours later in Gilbert's car with him holding my hand.

"We're here." he tells me.

I look out the windshield and see we're in front of a forest.

"This is the special place?" I ask, looking over at him.

"Well, not exactly." He admits. "Come on." He gets out of the car and I slowly follow him. He gets a picnic basket from the backseat, takes my hand, and leads me through the woods to a clearing.

I gasp a bit and stare. It was beautiful. There was a lake that looked crystal clear with a small waterfall going into it. The grass was a lush green and was everywhere. The sun shone perfectly off of everything. And-

"Birdie! Hey, come over here!" I looked over at Gilbert, who had set up a picnic in the perfect place. He waved at me to come over, and I did, a bit uncertainly though.

"Well, what do you think?" he asks as I sit down on the blanket.

"How did you find this place?" I wonder aloud.

He sits down next to me and answers, "I just came across it one day while I was taking a walk. Isn't it awesome?"

"Yeah, awesome."

"Well come on, let's eat. You're probably hungry too."

"Huh? Oh yeah."

We eat and chat a bit, and by the time we're finished, I'm leaning against Gilbert a bit.

"Hey ya wanna take a swim?" he asks.

"A swim? But we didn't bring anything for that." I say, looking up at him.

"That's all right. Just swim in your boxers." He gets up as he and takes his shirt off as he says it. I feel myself blush a bit, so I turn away.

"Um, I'd rather not." I mutter.

"What's that Birdie?" He has his hands on my shoulders and leans over so his head is next to mine.

"I-I'd rather not get undressed." I mutter again.

"Aw come on Birdie, it's just us here."

"Th-that's not the problem."

"Then come on!" He grabs my hood and pulls it over my head, trying to take my hoodie off. I grab the inside of the cuffs. He manages to get most of it over my head, so I can't see. Then we end up rolling on the ground, wrestling for it even though it's still partially on me.

Eventually, he gets my hoodie and my shirt off right next to the lake. He had taken his jeans and his shoes off, and my right shoe was halfway back to where we picnicked. He was leaning over me, holding my sweatshirt triumphantly..

"Ok Birdie, now we just… hold on." He grabs one of my arms. "Why are they bandaged? They need to come off to go swimming."

"No! Don't take them off, please."

"Aw, come on Birdie." He start to unwrap the bandages, but I pull my arm away.

"No, they don't need to come off."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course they need to come off."

He wrestles me onto my chest and tears the bandages off. I quickly hide my arms so he doesn't see all the scars.

"Birdie, what's wrong?" He turns me back over and grabs my arm and pulls it forward, revealing all my scars. I grimace when he grabs my arm, then I look at him with worry.

He looks at my arm and he slowly looks concerned.

"Matthew, when did you start cutting yourself?" he asks, pulling me up into a sitting position.

"It doesn't matter." I mutter, trying to pull my arm away.

"It does if you're going to continue this."

I shake my head. "Can I have my bandages back?"

"Why are you cutting yourself?"

I shake my head.

"Birdie. Why?"

"There's always another option." I quietly say.

"Another option to what?" he gently asks.

I start to cry. "To…to k-killing myself."

"Birdie." He holds me to him and lets me cry into his chest. "It's Ok." He gently rubs my back and comforts me for around a half hour.

I stop crying, but I stay leaning into him.

"Birdie, why didn't you get help?"

"No one would care."

"I care."

"Really?" I look up at him, but everything's a bit blurry from my tears and the fact that I don't have my glasses doesn't help.

"Yes. I really care about you." He gently kisses my forehead.

"Thank you." I lean my head against his him.

"I'm going to protect you Birdie, Ok? I'm going to make sure you're safe." He holds me to him as he says it. I hug him and he hugs me back.

"Gilbert?" I ask after a minute.

"Just Gil."

"Gil?"

"Yes?"

I look up at him again. "Why do you call me 'Birdie'?"

He smiles down at me. "You remind me of a little bird. You seemed so out of place, and you're so jumpy."

"I'm not jumpy!" I say defensively.

"Sure you're not."

And, as if on Gil's cue, there's thunder in the distance. I jump and cling to him.

He holds me to him and laughs again. "Kesesese. Don't worry Birdie, I got you."

"It's gonna rain." I don't like when it's pouring rain.

"Just wait here, Ok?" He lets go of me and gets up. He goes back to where we were, back into the forest, then I don't see him.

I bring my knees up to me and wrap my arms around them. It starts to rain. I want my shirt back, but Gil took it with him. I wonder if he'll remember to come back.

After a few minutes, it starts to rain harder. I don't think he's coming back, but then I see him running back towards me with a blanket.

He sits next to me and holds me close to him, wrapping the blanket around us.

"You OK Birdie?"

"Yeah. I thought you had forgot me."

He lifts my chin so I'm looking at him.

"Birdie, I would _never, could_ never forget you. You're just too amazing to forget or leave behind."

"R-really?" I whisper.

"Really." I feel my eyes start to water. He won't forget me? That's amazing.

"Birdie?"

"Huh?"

While it's raining around with, with only the blanket for protection from it, Gil leans close to me until he gently kisses me. I gently kiss him back. It's the happiest I've ever been.


End file.
